Time-stamp.



No. 628,323. Patented July 4, I899.

- S. H. HOGGSON.

TIME STAMP.

(Application filed Aug. 17, 1898.)

6N0 Model.) 2 Sheets-8heei I.

Ira/6 17%)" THE NONIUS Pucks co, PHOTO-LITHO" WASHINGTON, u. c.

Ila-628,323. Patented July 4, I899. S. H. HUGGSUN.

TIME STAMP.

{Applicationfiled Aug. 17, 1898.) (No Modal.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2- E215: I H ygz V.

/ a I i I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL HAMILTON IIOGGSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TIME-STAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 628,323, dated July 4, 1899.

Application filed August 17, 1398. Serial No. 688,805. (No model.)

To CLZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL HAMILTON IIOGGSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of (look and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Time-Stamps, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of handstamps known as time stamps-t'. e., stamps for printing the time of their receipt or departure upon papers and articles of various kinds, and it contemplates the provision of a combined time-stamp and timepiece, the same being adapted by reason of its construction to stand upright upon an inking-pad or other rest without the time mechanism being affectedthereby and being otherwise advantageous, as will be fully understood from the following description and claims when taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, in which- Figure l is afront elevation of my improved time-stamp with some of the partsin section.

. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken in a plane at right angles to Fig. l with some of the parts in elevation. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken in the plane indicated by the line m acof Fig. 1. Fig. 4 comprises disconnected perspective views of the main frame or body and mount-plate of the stamp, and Fig. 5 is an enlarged inverted plan view of the printing-face of the stamp.

In the said drawings similar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the several views, referring to which A designates the main frame or body of the stamp, which is preferably of the form shown and cast in one piece of aluminiumor other suitable material. This frame orbody comprises a casing a, an upright b, rising from the casing and recessed, as indicated by c, and a knobcl at the upperend of the upright, said knob being designed to serve as a handle to enable the operator to conveniently press the printing-face of the stamp against the piece of paper or article to be stamped.

B designates a timepiece, which may be a watch or clock, although I prefer to employ the former,as shown. This timepiece or watch may be of the ordinary construction, with the exception that its casing is provided with a flange e on its rear side designed to be sprung into the circular portion of therecess o, and its minute-shaft is extended, as indicated by f, and provided with a gear-wheel g, as shown, for a purpose presently described. The said watch is securely held against casual displacement in the recess 0 of the body, but may be readily removed when desired, and when so removed the operator may, through the medium of thewheel g, conveniently set its hands, it necessary.

O designates the printing-base of the stamp, which is preferably a cushion of rubber or other suitable material. This cushion O is provided upon its face with two printingdials h 2', the one being designed to print the hours and the other the minutes. The hourdial h is, for an important reason presently pointed out,provided with twenty-four graduations, the first'twelve of which are numbered from 1 to 12 in consecutive order, as are the second twelve, with the number l of the second twelve next to the number 12 of the first twelve, -as shown. Said dial his also provided with the conventional abbreviations IVL, A. BL, and P. M., placed at proper points, as shown. Thedial i is provided with sixty grad nations, which are numbered in the manner shown or in any other suitable manner.

The cushion O is further provided within the dials h 11 with circular recesses j is for a purpose presently described, While between the dials or at any other desired point it has a rectangular recess Z, this latter being designed to receive removable types m, n, and p for printing the names of the ear and month, together with the day of the month.

D designates the mount-plate 'or plate in which'the rubber cushion O is mounted. This plate D is provided on its upper side with studs r, and on these studs and coincident studs 5 in the casing a of body A are mount- 'ed and secured by frictional contact or cement the yielding supports E, which are preferably of rubber and in the form of tubes, as shown. These supports E connect the mountplate and the casing and normally hold the body A above'the mount-plate D and cushion O, as shown. lVhen, however, pressure is applied upon the upper end of the body A,

said supports E give and permit the body to move down with respect to the mount-plate and printing-cushion for a purpose which will be presently pointed out.

F G designate shafts which are journaled in and held against endwise movement in the casing a and which extend loosely through 'apertures t in the mount-plate and printingcushion 0 into the recesses 76, respectively, of said cushion, as shown. These shafts F G are provided at their lower ends with hands u v, respectively, which are formed of rubber or have rubber faces and are therefore adapted to print when they are properly inked and pressed against the surface tc be printed. The shaft F is also provided with a ratchet-wheel I-I having twentyfour teeth for a purpose pressently described, while the shaft G is provided with a gear-wheel I, which meshes with a gear-wheel J on a shaft K, as better shown in Fig. 3. Said shaft K extends through a bearing in the casingaof the bodyA into the recess c and is provided with a gear-wheel L in mesh with the gear-wheel g on the minuteshaft of the watch, whereby it will be seen that the shaft G will make a complete rotation with each complete rotation of the minute-shaft of the watch and that consequently the hand 1) will move in concert with and at a speedcorresponding to that of the minutehand of the watch and will always occupy a position with respect to the dial t' corresponding to the position which the minute-hand of the Watch occupies with respect to the dial thereof.

M designates a lever which is fulcru med on an arbor w in the casing a and has a pawl 50 at one end to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel H. N designates a cam which is fixed on the shaft G, so as to engage the opposite end of the lever M, and is provided with an abrupt shoulder y, and P designates a spring which is connected to the lever M and easing a, and has for its purpose to normally hold the lever in engagement with the cam N and the pawl at in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet-wheel H, as better shown in Fig.

In the practice of the invention when the stamp is not in use it is designed and adapted to stand in the upright position shown in Fig. 1 upon an inking-pad or other suitable base without ,the time mechanism being retarded in its movements or otherwise affected thereby. This is an important advantage, since the device serves as an efficient and ornamental timepiece when not in use as a stamp, and it is due to the fact that the printinghands a o normally rest in a plane above that of the printing-face of the cushion (J and do not contact with the base on which said cushion rests. also at all times connected with the mechanism of the watch and have no movement with respect to the same, and this, as will be readily appreciated, contributes materially to the proper operation of the printing-hands and results in the hand 0 moving in concert with The said printing-hands u i; are

and at a speed corresponding to that of the minute-hand of the watch and in the hand a being moved the distance of one tooth of wheel H at the completion of each rotation of the hand 4), such movement of the hand a being effected by the shaft. G through the medium of the cam N, lever M, pawl 00', wheel H, and shaft 0. Consequently it will be observed that when the face of the cushion C and the hands tti) are properly inked by pressing them against an inking-pad or in any other suitable manner and the stamp is then placed upon and pressed against the paper or article to be stamped the supports E will yield and permit the body A to move downward, with the result that the hands a o, as well as the face of the cushion C, will be pressed against the paper and the minute and hour, as well as the day, month, and year, will be printed upon the paper or article. For instance, if the stamp is used at twenty-five minutes of two the impression on the paper or article stamped will show the minute-hand as pointing to the number 35 and the hour-hand pointing to the number 1, indicating that the paper or article was stamped at 1.35, or twenty-five minutes of two.

As described in the foregoing, the hour-dial 7t has twenty-four graduations divided into two series, each of which has its graduations numbered in consecutive order, with the nu mber l of each series arranged after the number 12 of the other series. This dial h is highly advantageous for the reason that it permits the movement of the hour-hand to be continuous and obviates the necessity of any changing device to denote the A. M., P. M., and M. divisions of the day of twenty-four hours, as it is instantly apparent it is day if the point of the arrow is above an imaginary line drawn horizontally from 6 A. M. to 6 P. M. and night if below this line. It follows from that that all the user of my improved stamp has to do is to change the type once a day, the type a once a month, and the type 9% once a year and wind the watch at necessary intervals.

WVith all its advantages it will be observed that my improved time-stamp is very simple and compact and that it presents the appearance of a clock and serves to enhance, rather than detract from, the appearance of anydesk upon which it is placed.

Having-thus described myinvention, what I claim.is

1. In a time-stamp, the combination of a printing-base, a body yieldingly supported above the base, a suitable time mechanism carried by said body, and a movable printing device connected with the time mechanism and normally resting in a plane above the face of the printing-base and movable with the body, whereby, when said body is depressed the printing device will be moved down to the plane of the face of the printingbase, substantially as specified.

2. In a time-stamp, the combination of a printing-base,a suitable time mechanism, and

a vertically-movable printing device connected and movable with the time mechanism and normally resting in a plane above the face of the printing-base; the said parts being so assembled that when the base is pressed against an article to be printed, the printing device will be caused to move downwardly to the same plane as the face of said base, substantially as specified.

3. In a time-stamp, the combination of a printing-base having a recess in itsface and a dial surrounding said recess, a suitable time mechanism, yieldingly supported above the base, and aprinting-hand connected and movable with the time mechanism and arranged in the recess of the printing-base and normally resting in a plane above the face of said base, substantially as specified.

4. In a time-stamp, the combination of a printing-base having a recess in its face and a dial surrounding said recess, a body yieldingly supported above the base, a time mechanism carried by said body, and aprintinghand connected and movable with the time mechanism and arranged in the recessof the printing-base and normally resting in a plane above the face of said base, substantially as specified.

5. In a time-stamp, the combination of a printing-base having two recesses in its face and also having a minute-dial surrounding one recess and an h'our-dial surrounding the other, a body yieldi'ngly supported above the base, a time mechanism carried by said body, a shaft carried by and movable with the body and extending into the recess within the minute-dial of the base and having a printinghand at its lower end normally resting in a plane above the face of the base, mechanism, intermediateof said shaft and the minuteshaft of the time mechanism, a second shaft carried by and movable with the body and ex- 6. In a time-stamp, the combination of a printing-base, a body yieldingly supported above the base and having the circular recess in its forward side, a timepiece having a casing adapted to be sprung into and thereby detachably secured in said recess and also having one of its shafts extended, and a movable printing device connected with the extended shaft of the timepiece and normally resting in a plane above the face of the printing-base and movable'with the body, substantially as specified.

'Z. In a time-stamp, the combination of a printing-base having two recesses in its face and also having a minute-dial surrounding one recess and a continuous hourdial of twenty-four graduations, a body yieldingly supported above the base, a time mechanism carried by'said body, minute and hour shafts carried by and movable with the body and extending into the recess within the minute-dial and hour-dial, respectively, of the base and having printing-hands normally restingin planes above the face of the base, mechanism intermediate of the minute shaft and the time mechanism, and mechanism intermediate of said minnte-shaft and the hour-shaft for rotating the same step by step in one direction, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses. V

SAMUEL HAMILTON IIOGGSON.

Witnesses:

H. R. OADMUs, WM. L. Frrcn. 

